The Obvious Conspiracy: The Sadie Chronicles Part 1
by blackraven72
Summary: A few things about Sadie: she can use magic (but only with Ben's okay), she doesn't know who her parents are (frankly, she'd like to), and she sees right through Mal's plot from the start (which wasn't exactly difficult). However, she's unqualified to stop the VK's, she might not even be a hero, and how can she save Auradon when she can't even save herself from her own issues?
1. The VKs Arrive

**First of all, I'd like to thank anyone who has shown any initial interest in this story from the get-go. Thank you, and I hope I'm as funny as I think I am. Otherwise, this story will never work. Also, feel free to shoot me a review or a PM with a guess as to who Sadie's parents are! Obviously, I already know, but we're a looong ways off from that big reveal. However, I will constantly try and provide subtle clues throughout this story, and the next one that I have planned! I will try my best to be a faithful updater, but I will have a lot going on soon, so updates may not be frequent. You have been warned XD.**

 **On with the show!**

Chapter 1: Sixteen Years Later

"Sadie?" an old man's voice called up the stairs. "Sadie? If you don't come down in the next ten minutes, you'll be late for school!"

"I'm coming, Uncle Merlin!" Sadie shouted back from the top of the steps. "I'm just packing up all of my books! You know, five of them are about the size of dictionaries!"

"You know, I might just let you use magic if it means that you'll be on time," Merlin said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Thanks!" Sadie called back, and with a quick " _Higitus Figitus!"_ , all of her books were neatly stowed in seconds. Now that she was good to go, Sadie bounded down the stairs, average-length blonde hair flying behind her.

"Now Sadie," Merlin stated, "Before you go. I'm assuming you've heard about King Ben's announcement?"

"Yes," she replied. "He told me himself, right before he decided to make it. I think it's a good idea, but I did warn him to be cautious. After all, we're exploring uncharted territory here. Maybe Ben's right, and these kids will be nothing like their parents, but if he's wrong, and these new kids end up trying to take over Auradon or something…"

"I agree fully with what you just said, Sadie. You're quite wise for your age. That boy will make a wonderful king, but he needs someone like you who can rein him in a little and help him see reason."

"Well, I will be his chief advisor when he takes the throne; helping Ben see reason will soon be my full-time job," Sadie laughed. Ben was a lovely person, but sometimes he was a little too idealistic in her opinion. "And hopefully, he'll let me use magic too."

"I'm sure he will," Merlin smiled through his long beard, "After all, you are _my_ student, and a very powerful wizard. It would certainly be a shame to let those talents go to waste."

"One more thing, Uncle Merlin," Sadie said as her mentor, who really wasn't her uncle, was creating a portal to Auradon Prep for her.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking about my parents again last night, and I was just wondering, would my mom be proud of me?"

"Sadie," Merlin said, "you're doing very well in your classes, you have some friends, and you're a very talented wizard. I'm sure your mother would be very pleased with the young woman you've become."

"Thanks," Sadie smiled, "I needed that."

She gave her uncle and mentor a hug, and then disappeared into the portal with the words, "I'll see you on Family Day, Uncle Merlin! I love you!"

She didn't need to hear his reply to know that he loved her too.

As soon as Sadie stepped out of the portal, her old friend Ben, who she often advised on both professional and personal issues, greeted her. Since Sadie was a wizard, and almost every kingdom in Auradon had a wizard in their court who helped advise and protect their royal family, Ben asked her when they were kids if she would be his advisor when he came of age and took the throne. Of course she said yes. How couldn't she? The two had been friends since they were little kids. Granted, they didn't do everything together, but they were still friends nonetheless. In fact, Sadie had a niggling suspicion that his friendship with her was a factor which encouraged him to bring kids from the Isle of the Lost to Auradon in the first place.

"Hi Sadie!" Ben called out, as he cheerfully ran towards her to greet her.

"Hi Ben," Sadie smiled back.

"Aren't you excited? The kids from the Isle of the Lost are coming today! We've got the band set up, and everything is ready to go, but it would be nice to have another person on the welcoming committee."

"Sure, I'd love to help!" was Sadie's response. Honestly, she felt that there was no other response she could give.

"You never know," Ben grinned, "you might be meeting your long-lost brother or sister today!"

Sadie didn't know who her parents were. Merlin refused to tell her anything except that her mother was a powerful enchantress, and truthfully, the elderly wizard was the only parental figure that Sadie really felt like she needed. However, when Sadie was about twelve years old, she started to get curious about her heritage, and Ben was only too happy to help her find her biological parents. They had followed many a lead, however slim, but never got anywhere. It had almost become a game to them: Find Sadie's Parents.

"And if she does meet her long-lost brother, sister, or even a cousin, you'll kick her out of Auradon as _soon_ as you can prove that, _right_ Benny-boo?" asked a familiar, sickly sweet voice that Sadie knew belonged to Audrey, daughter of Sleeping Beauty and Ben's current girlfriend. Why Ben had started dating Audrey, Sadie would never know. Audrey was pretty, but she was incredibly mean to anyone who didn't fit her definition of perfect, and Sadie certainly wasn't one of those people. At least she knew that Sadie and Ben were just friends and soon-to-be coworkers. If she hadn't known that, Sadie thought, things could be a whole lot worse for her right now.

"Will she be on the welcoming committee too, Ben?" Sadie asked as if she hadn't heard Audrey's insult.

"Of course!" Ben replied, also ignoring his girlfriend's remark about his future advisor. "She's my girlfriend, why wouldn't she be?"

Audrey started preening when Ben called her his girlfriend, and Sadie, for the umpteenth time, prayed to whichever god was listening at the moment that Ben would find a new girlfriend soon. Almost anyone at Auradon Prep, regardless of gender, would be preferable to Audrey in Sadie's opinion. Except for Chad Charming. That boy was truly an asshole with an ego the size of an elephant's derriere. No, Sadie thought, something bigger than that. Perhaps a garishly painted hot air balloon was a better comparison to make. No, that wasn't quite right to her either.

While Sadie was contemplating whether Chad's ego was more comparable to a giant pile of dragon dung or a garbage truck with the words "CAUTION: WIDE LOAD" stamped onto the back of it, a limo flying the Auradonian flag pulled up to the school gates. The welcome band immediately started playing a cheery tune, and Sadie thought her eardrums would burst from having to stand right where the noise was being directed. One boy loudly blasted some notes on his trumpet, and she hastily covered her ears for fear of going deaf. The boy, who Sadie now realized was Doug, hastily gave her an apologetic look. Sadie quickly smiled and silently forgave him. She was good friends with Doug; they took lots of honors classes together and worked well together on group projects. Sadie gave Doug another smile, but moved away from the band and closer to the rest of the small welcoming party. From a distance, it looked like she was hiding behind Ben.

"Sadie, the school band's not going to kill you," Ben whisper-joked.

"You never know," Sadie muttered back, "my as-of-now-unknown cousin might be plotting to strangle me to death with his accordion as we speak."

Audrey glared at them and hissed, "This is _not_ the time for your stupid jokes, Sadie."

Ben tried not to chuckle, as the band had stopped playing, which meant that the villain kids had just arrived.

A small white-haired boy had clearly been tussling with a taller boy with long hair in the limo beforehand, and Sadie watched as both of them fell out of the vehicle and onto the ground. The girls, to no one's surprise, peacefully walked out of the limo while slightly rolling their eyes at their male friends, or so Sadie initially assumed. Nothing had made it apparent to her that the four villain kids hated each other. Then again, she thought, they were villain kids. They could probably disguise hatred in a heartbeat.

The Fairy Godmother had already started lecturing the villain kids about goodness, and Sadie decided that instead of having to hear her boring lecture ("blah, blah, leave things where you found them, blah blah, welcome to Auradon Prep"), she could continue to find something that would be comparable to Chad's ego. Perhaps an orca's ingrown toenail. Yes, that sounded right: it was large, disturbing to think about the size of, incredibly smelly, and most likely diseased to boot.

"I'm Fairy Godmother, headmistress," After said woman introduced herself, she whispered, "Sadie, are you paying attention?"

Sadie snapped back to reality immediately, and hoped everyone had thought that she was paying attention the whole time. Considering Audrey's disguised disgusted eye roll, she guessed that was not the case.

"Um, so should I be shaking their hands and introducing myself or something, Fairy Godmother?"

" _The_ Fairy Godmother?" The purple haired girl piped up excitedly, "As in, 'Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo'?"

"Bibbidi bobbidi, you know it!" Fairy Godmother replied with a beaming smile, and Sadie felt the urge to groan at the bad pun, but politely restrained herself. She'd messed up enough already.

"Yeah," the purple-haired girl continued, "I always wondered what it felt like for Cinderella when you just appeared out of nowhere with that sparkly _wand_ and warm smile."

The way that the girl emphasized the word "wand" when she was talking was a large clue to Sadie that the villain kids, or the VKs for short, had some sort of secret agenda.

"Oh," Fairy Godmother responded, still smiling. Sadie didn't think that the older woman had picked up on the fact that something was clearly amiss here.

"And that sparkling wand," the purple haired girl smiled again. Honestly, Sadie thought, can this girl be any more obvious about what she wants? She decided to play dumb and tell Ben later.

"Well then," Fairy Godmother said, clearly trying to get the conversation back on the proper path, "It's so good to finally meet you all."

Ben quickly stepped up to introduce himself.

"I'm Ben."

" _Prince_ Benjamin," Fairy Godmother quickly corrected.

"Soon to be king," Audrey added, in Sadie's opinion, unhelpfully.

"You had me at 'Prince'" the blue haired girl simpered as she slinked closer to Ben. "My mom's a queen, which makes me a princess."

Sadie was beginning to think that she might be the only girl in Auradon who didn't turn into a complete suck-up around Ben. Then again, she was his advisor.

"The evil queen has no royal status here, and neither do you!" Audrey snapped, and Sadie turned her attention back to the conversation.

"This is Audrey," Ben introduced.

"Princess Audrey. His girlfriend." She clarified. "Right Benny-boo?"

Sadie then noticed that Ben had been staring at the purple-haired girl with a lovestruck daze, and happiness flooded her veins; the gods were listening. Her prayers had finally been answered. It only took about a year, but still, they had been answered.

"And this," Ben waved his hand in her direction, "is Sadie."

"Wait, what?" Sadie asked, as she had been too busy thanking every god she could think of off the top of her head to be paying attention. "Am I supposed to be doing something?"

The VKs just laughed, which Sadie took as a good sign. At least, if nothing else, she was funny.

"No, not just yet," Ben laughed.

"Sadie is Prince Ben's advisor," Audrey said conversationally, "but she can be very slow in the head sometimes. I'm so sorry about that."

"Remind me, Audrey," Sadie said with a slightly confused look on her face, "but _which_ one of us is taking pass-fail algebra for the second year in a row, again?"

The tall boy with the long hair started laughing so loudly that Sadie was worried he would actually bust a lung. The younger boy was chuckling along with him. The blue-haired girl was trying to hide a smile, while the purple-haired girl was slightly smirking. Of course, Audrey's face was priceless. Her smile was so wide that it looked like it could become its own separate entity, and her eyes looked like they were just about to bulge out of her head.

"All right, Sadie, that's enough from you," Audrey said in an obnoxiously sugary manner, and Sadie knew that this would be an excellent time to shut up.

"Ben, Sadie, and Audrey are going to show you all around, and I'll see you tomorrow. As I always say, the doors of wisdom are never shut! But the library hours are from 8:00 to 11:00. And as you may have heard, I have a little thing about curfews," the Fairy Godmother beamed, and then she left the teenagers alone.

Sadie decided that she would remain silent throughout the tour, but listen for anything else concerning wands. If the word "wand" never came up, she could at least amuse herself by thinking of something more disgusting than an orca's ingrown toenail. It was looking more and more likely that Audrey's face would take home the grand prize.


	2. The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 2:

"It is so, so, so good to finally me…meet you all," Ben greeted nervously. Of course he's nervous, Sadie thought; this was his first big test that could be an early indicator of how well he would do as king, and he didn't want to mess it up.

"This is a momentous occasion, and one that I hope will go down in history…Is that chocolate?"

Sadie noticed that the silver-haired boy had managed to smear chocolate all over the lower half of his face. She tried very hard not to smile; she knew that pest Audrey was most likely watching her like a hawk.

"…as the day our two peoples begin to heal." Very nice, Ben, Sadie thought, very nice. The formal greeting let the VKs know that he was royalty, but the casual observation proved that he was relatable as well. Of course she knew that this was just Ben being himself, but she felt the need to analyze his sentence nonetheless. It would be her job in the near future to help Ben be more presentable than he already was, after all.

"Or the day that you showed four people where the bathrooms are," the purple-haired girl quipped. Sadie liked this girl already; she wasn't stuck up, she was sarcastic, and she was making Ben fall out of love with Audrey. It had only been ten minutes, and Sadie already felt sparks flying between the VK and the prince. Who knew that romance could blossom over a discussion that involved toilets? After the day when the VKs were welcomed, Sadie was a true believer that romantic discussions could be about just about anything. Except maybe orcs' ingrown toenails, but that could be a romantic chat too, depending on the tone that the people talking were using and whether or not they were staring deeply enough into each other's eyes.

"A little bit over the top?" Ben asked kindly.

"A little more than a little bit," the purple haired girl replied.

"Well, so much for my first impression," Ben laughed, and it looked like the girl was started to smile too. Sadie already shipped it. She wanted to mail out the wedding invitations immediately before Audrey had the chance to open her mouth…

"Hey! You're Maleficent's daughter, aren't you? Yeah, you know what? I totally do not blame you for your mother trying to kill my parents and stuff. Oh, my mom's Aurora. Sleeping Beauty!"

…Crap.

Sadie was sure that Maleficent's daughter had a perfect response, but she hadn't opened her mouth in a while, and the situation was starting to spiral into dangerous terrritory.

"Audrey, what is it that our lovely warthog friend Pumbaa used to say about putting our behinds in our past, and our eyes on the future?" she asked. "Because I think that we should _all_ put the past where it belongs: in a history textbook."

The silver-haired boy seemed to like this remark, as he smiled slightly. Okay, Sadie thought, so the smaller boy appreciates butt jokes. Good to know. Ben also appreciated the remark, most likely the latter part, and Sadie saw him flash her an approving smile.

"You don't get to preach to me about the past, _orphan_!" Audrey seethed. "You don't even _know_ who your parents are! How would you feel about meeting the child of your mother's worst enemy?"

"I'd probably just say hello, and maybe ask him or her if he or she wanted to go for pizza, and we'd talk there. If they don't like pizza, especially Trattoria Bella Notte's pizza, then they must be the spawn of Chernabog, or," she turned to the VKs, "are there any villains that you know of who are allergic to tomatoes, cheese, or bread? Because that could be another turnoff in the pizza department…"

"Okay!" Ben clapped his hands authoritatively. "So, how about a tour, yeah? Sadie, why don't you meet Doug inside, and Audrey and I can give the tour?"

"After all," Audrey grinned, "we know exactly where Fairy Godmother wants us to go, since we actually _attended_ the briefing for the Welcoming Committee."

"If she also did your diversity training and behavioral coaching, then I'm afraid that she didn't explain what the word 'tolerance' means to half of the pre-set committee," Sadie beamed. "See you in the lounge!"

"Can Sadie stick around, Prince Ben?" the silver-haired boy piped up quietly. "She's kind of awesome."

As Ben replied, "I'm afraid not. She wasn't debriefed on the plans for our tour today, so she'll be off with Doug in the lounge. Don't worry, you'll see her again.", Sadie walked away with her head down, a small, victorious smile on her lips.

"Hey Doug!" Sadie smiled cheerily as she entered the lounge.

"Hi, Sadie," he smiled back shyly. "I didn't know you were on the Welcoming Committee. How did that happen?"

"Well, Ben just recruited me at the last minute. It wasn't that bad actually; I got to meet the VKs, and poke some fun at Audrey. It was lovely!"

"You really shouldn't be making fun of Audrey, you know, _especially_ in public," Doug said worriedly. "She's one of the most popular and well-connected girls at school! If you really made her mad today, then I hope for your sake that you're prepared to deal with her inevitable retaliation."

"Please," Sadie scoffed. "She tried to pull the orphan insult out again when I made a jab at her the first time, but she should really know that that doesn't bother me anymore."

"You know that she won't stop until she finds a way to hurt you, Sadie," Doug warned. "She has powerful friends, and she knows how to play dirty to get what she wants. Are you really sure it's worth it to go up against her?"

"Doug, Doug, Doug," Sadie grinned at him, "you worry too much! I'm sure that Ben will talk her down like he always does, and everything will be fine."

"And in my opinion, Sadie, you don't worry enough," Doug mumbled as the VKs, Ben, and Audrey entered the lounge.


	3. Welcome to Auradon

**So sorry this chapter's super late; I've just been busy with life. I've just gone through a bunch of major life changes, but I do have more time to write now as a result of said changes! I hope this update is worth the wait, and as usual, any guesses about Sadie's true parents can be posted in a review! I'd love to know who you think they are...**

 **Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated as well! Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

"Doug? Doug, come down." Ben called loudly as he, Audrey, and the VKs entered the lounge. Doug was going up the stairwell that led to the dorms. A few steps up, the stairs flattened into a larger stair so that students could easily grab their room keys from the cabinet conveniently hung on the wall. Doug quickly grabbed the keys and turned around so that the VKs could see his face.

"This is Doug," Ben happily introduced. "He's going to help you with your class schedules and show you the rest of the dorms. I'll see you later, okay?" Sadie thought she saw Ben shoot another loving look at Maleficent's daughter, and her shipper heart soared. Then she remembered that the girl probably had some sort of evil plan up her sleeve. Great. Just great.

"And if there is anything you need," Ben continued, "feel free to…"

"Ask Doug." Audrey cut her boyfriend off with another winning (read: fake) smile.

"Hi guys," Doug greeted shyly. "I'm Doug. I'm Dopey's son, as in Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, and…Heigh ho."

Doug was openly gawking at the blue-haired girl, and Sadie was doing her best not to snicker. Despite his intelligence, Doug really acted like a derp sometimes.

"Careful, Doug, you might catch flies," Sadie joked from her position on the couch in the lounge.

"Sadie! Uh, you're back!" the silver-haired boy exclaimed.

"Indeed I am, um, what's your name?" Sadie asked.

"Carlos," the boy grinned. He was too sweet to be a villain's son, in Sadie's opinion.

"And you're Cruella's son, I presume?" Sadie asked, still lounging on the couch.

"Yeah, um…I am!"

"Don't worry, I don't bite," Sadie almost drawled as she slipped off the couch with catlike grace. "And you are?" she asked the blue-haired girl, who had gotten very close to Doug all of a sudden; this turn of events was making the dorky boy stutter and just feel very uncomfortable.

"Evie. Evil Queen's daughter," she replied as she kept grinning at Doug, who looked like he could fall over at any second. As the bluenette took another step closer to Doug, Sadie heard a crash as her friend fell over backwards.

"Oh dear," she said, eyes bulging out. "Doug! Are you all right?"

All she got out of Doug was a mumbled, "Huungh," and a line of drool running out of the side of his mouth, thankfully on the side of his face that the VKs weren't looking at. Sadie checked his pulse, and silently whispered a spell that let her check for injuries while she pretended to know how to do that non-magically. When the spell let her know that Doug wasn't concussed or otherwise seriously injured, Sadie breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Well, it looks like I'll be showing you to your rooms," she said as she rose to her feet. "Don't worry, Doug isn't like this very often; this is a special case of the nerves. He's a really great guy though, and you should follow Ben's advice and ask him any questions that you have. However, you should also probably stay out of his personal bubble. He's very sensitive about that sort of thing, as you just witnessed."

"So, Sadie," Carlos asked as she led the four new students up the stairs, "Audrey said you didn't know who your parents were. Do you have any clue at all?"

"No," Sadie said as she rounded a curve in the stairwell. "Ben and I have been trying to figure it out for years, but we haven't come to any definite conclusions. Right now, people just say I'm Merlin's daughter because I live with him."

"Did Merlin teach you anything about magic?" the purple-haired girl asked.

"What was your name again?" Sadie asked her.

"Mal."

"Well, Mal, here in Auradon, magic is illegal, and Merlin and I are good, law-abiding citizens. What makes you think that I would know any type of magic?" Sadie knew that she was lying through her teeth, and she hoped that Mal wouldn't notice. She also had a good idea why Mal was asking her this question. Honestly, this girl needed to be less obvious about her motives.

"You're the king's advisor," Mal responded. "Isn't the law that the king's advisor can use magic?"

"Only when the king lets me, and Ben isn't king yet."

"But after living with Merlin all of these years, you must've accidentally heard or seen something magical. Like a wand, for instance. You must have seen a wand."

"Thankfully, I have never seen Merlin's wand," Sadie quipped back, and the tall long-haired boy started laughing so hard that he fell down a couple of stairs. Carlos looked at his friend with a very confused expression, as Evie looked at Sadie with a slightly disgusted one. Sadie tried to hold back her own laughter.

"Are you all right?" Sadie called down.

"Yeah," the tall long-haired boy called back.

"What's your name again?" Sadie asked.

"Jay," he said as he got to his feet. "You know, I didn't think anyone in Auradon would have a sense of humor. I guess I was wrong."

"If I were you, Jay, I wouldn't fall into the trap of judging people by what they appear to be," Sadie replied easily. "You will quickly find that some Auradon kids aren't as nicey-nice as we may seem."

"Started to get that vibe already. That Audrey girl…she's hot but dang, she's mean."

"Unfortunately, she's not the only one," Sadie stated. "Your dorm is down the hall to the left," she said as she handed him his and Carlos's room keys. "Mal and Evie, your room is on the right."

"Are you sure you don't know anything about magic?" Mal asked incredulously one more time.

Sadie looked Mal dead in the eyes and replied, "Absolutely positive. Have a great day!"

"Mal," Sadie heard Evie quietly say to her friend as she turned down the hallway, "I think she's lying." Sadie quickly pressed herself up against the wall to listen in on the unfolding conversation.

"No, she's not," Mal replied confidently. "Evie, Auradon kids can't lie. They're goody-goodies; they've never had to lie about anything, and it's also probably illegal here or something."

"She did say not to judge anyone by appearances though," Evie continued. "Maybe that was supposed to be a warning."

"Just about the other kids, which we could've guessed anyway. Just calm, down, E. No one knows about our little side project, 'kay?"

Except me, Sadie thought. She quickly went down the stairs, and headed towards Ben's office. The two of them had a lot to talk about.


	4. The Conversation(s)

**First of all, I'd just like to thank all of my new followers, and my two reviewers, Sabrina and sable-rover! All of the support means a lot. Also, thanks to sable-rover for being the first person to try and guess at Sadie's parentage! I'd really like all of my readers to try and take a crack at who Sadie's parents are. If you'd prefer to do so, send me a PM with your guess! I'm not sure if this chapter will help you figure it out, but anything could happen!**

 **Sorry this latest installment is a little, well, late, but this is actually the quickest I've updated in a very long time, and I also want to create quality content for you all to read. Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 5

"Hi Ben!" Sadie called loudly as she burst open her best friend's office door while he was pleasantly chatting with someone on his fancy gold-plated office phone. "There's something important that I feel like you should know..."

"Sadie," Ben said, still clutching the receiver to his ear, "I'm on the phone with Mr. Grumpy. We're reviewing the first draft of the new Sidekicks Proclamation, which will be finalized after the coronation. Can whatever you've got wait?"

"No," Sadie replied simply, "no, it cannot. Ben, I think the villain children have a plot to overthrow…" Even from her position in the doorway, Sadie could hear angry screams coming out of the receiver. She imagined that Grumpy wasn't too happy about being interrupted. Then again, she thought, he was never happy. The only time she ever saw him smile was when Doug fell off the stage at the Auradon Middle School Annual Holiday Concert a few years ago. That was when she started to wonder how in the blazes this man, er, dwarf, made it into Auradon in the first place. People generally didn't laugh when other people got hurt in Auradon. Sometimes she did, though, which made her wonder just how Auradonian she truly was.

"Mr. Grumpy, my advisor has just alerted me of a potential emergency situation which requires my immediate attention. Could you call me back in about an hour?" Ben asked in a polite tone.

More angry grumbles.

"Oh, I see. Well, would tomorrow morning work for you? I have a class at 8:15, but I'll be free at 9:30…"

Even angrier yapping.

"Mr. Grumpy, if I don't hear what my advisor has to say…"

Even more yelling. Ben never was very good at dealing with angry people, Sadie thought.

"Ben, pass me the phone," Sadie said.

"Sadie, please don't mess this up," Ben practically plead-whispered.

"I won't," Sadie whispered back as she took the receiver out of Ben's hand.

"All right, Mr. Grumpy," Sadie stated, "listen to me, the advisor that Prince Ben told you about. We have a very serious situation on our hands here at Auradon Prep, and if it doesn't get resolved immediately, Auradon could be headed for a world of hurt. No, I can't tell you what's going on; it's confidential. No, don't go to the newspapers with that or I will tell Prince Ben to tear up any notes he has on your lovely little bill and throw them in the trash. I know he bloody won't, which is why if you can't find a time to reschedule, you bet your tiny arse that I will personally tear your precious legislation into itty-bitty shreds myself, and…Oh, tomorrow at 9:30 is fine with you? That's wonderful news! Prince Ben looks forward to speaking with you then. Have a magical day!" With a definitive _click_ , Sadie hung up.

"You…" Ben stared at her in shock.

"Got your meeting rescheduled?" Sadie asked nonchalantly while plopping down in one of the many comfortable chairs in Ben's office. "Darn right I did. Ben, you have to learn someday that dealing with grumpy people means that you have to be willing to act a little grumpily yourself sometimes. That's the only thing that they understand."

"There has to be a better way," Ben said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Sadie, I could never make a threat like that! In fact, what you just did was borderline evil. All of the sidekicks in Auradon need that bill to become law so that they feel like they're being treated like proper citizens!"

"Now Ben," Sadie replied, "why couldn't you be that passionate about what you care about when you were on the phone with Mr. Grumpy? You're clearly more than capable of standing up for what you believe in; why is it so difficult for you to do that with your lovely constituents?"

Ben just sighed and slumped over into another comfy chair. "I don't know, Sadie, I really don't know. I guess I just…want to be likable, you know? I don't need to make any enemies before I become king."

"From what I recall in History of Kingship last year," Sadie commented offhandedly, "every king has had at least one enemy during their reign. Now, granted, many of those enemies are on the Isle now, but my point is that no king, ever, has ruled without making any enemies at all. If the only foe you ever make during your reign is a dwarf that's always grumpy anyways, then I think you'll have done a phenomenal job."

"How do you manage to put a positive spin on a potentially awful situation so easily?" Ben asked with a chuckle.

"Because I'm amazing," Sadie replied as if it was a universally accepted truth. "And speaking of the Isle, I think we have a problem."

"What is it?" Immediately, Ben shot up in his chair.

"I think the villains' children are plotting some kind of conspiracy, and Fairy Godmother's wand has something to do with it." Sadie's voice had become dead serious. She had gone into full on advisor-mode. "I overheard Mal say something about a 'side project' to Evie as they were walking into their room. Also, Mal seemed a little too interested in Fairy Godmother's wand when she met her, didn't she?"

"I really don't remember thinking anything was wrong with the welcoming ceremony. Except for some things Audrey said, but she already came to me and apologized for those comments so…"

"Hold on," Sadie interrupted, "she apologized to you for comments that were explicitly directed at me? What, in your opinion, is wrong with this picture?"

"Um, now that you mention it, yeah, she should have apologized to you. But let's get back to the situation at hand here."

"Agreed."

"How sure are you that the VKs are plotting something?" Ben asked worriedly.

"One hundred and ten percent. Also, your lovely purple-haired girlfriend asked me just how much I knew about magic as I was escorting them to their rooms."

"Sadie," Ben groaned, "she's not my girlfriend."

"She might as well be; you're completely smitten with her! Also, I think I remember you telling me about a dream you had a little while ago that went something along the lines of you and a purple-haired girl at the Enchanted Lake?"

Ben put his face in his hands. "But I'm…I'm still dating Audrey. It wouldn't be fair to her if I just broke up with her and started dating Mal. I mean, Mal hasn't even been on the island for one whole day, and I've been dating Audrey for over a year."

"It's only been over a year for twelve days."

"How do you know how long I've been in a relationship better than I do?"

"Because one year and twelve days ago, I started to pray to every god in existence that you would find a new girlfriend. I've been doing so every day since."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Sadie, I know that you and Audrey don't get along very well…"

"That's the understatement of the century."

"…but I love her. At least, I think I do."

"If you only think that you love her, then I'd drop her and go for someone you know you love. Like Mal."

"I don't love Mal; I just met her!"

"Didn't almost every royal parent at this school besides mine and your own meet their true love by 'love at first sight'?" Sadie mused.

"You have a point," Ben smiled. "All right, you win. I'll think about it."

"What are advisors for? Besides, of course, warning you amount imminent threats to the kingdom. I know you love Mal, but if I was you, I'd proceed with caution. If she even says the word 'wand' again in my presence, I'm bringing her to Fairy Godmother's office."

"Sadie, now you're sounding like Audrey! I'm sure that the VKs aren't dangerous, and are not posing any type of threat."

"I'm Audrey, but with logical evidence. I'm not saying we shouldn't treat them like honored guests, but I am saying that we should be careful. That's everything from me; I'll leave you to your legislation."

"All right. And Sadie," Ben called as she was walking towards the door, "thank you. Once again, you've reminded me why I'm honored to have you as my advisor."

"And your friend," Sadie called back over her shoulder. "Just keep what I said in mind, yeah?"

"I will. You have a way of making your opinions…unforgettable."

"Well thank you. See you around, Ben!" Sadie exclaimed as she closed his office door.

"Hi Sadie!" A shiver went down Sadie's spine as a sugary voice called her name from down the hall. "Are you done talking with Benny-boo?"

"Yes, Audrey, I'm finished. I had to talk to him about something important; he's back to working on his first big piece of legislation right now. I wouldn't disturb him if I was you."

"Oh," Audrey smiled. "Actually, I didn't want to talk to him. I wanted to talk with you."

"This is a…rare occurrence."

"It is," Audrey replied, her smile looking less sugary and more menacing. "It's also a pretty rare occurrence that you embarrass me at an official event."

"Really? I thought that you embarrassed yourself at public events on a regular basis without my help," Sadie commented.

Audrey growled. "Listen here, Sadie, or as you'll soon be known, villain spawn…"

"So that's your big plan, eh? Make me into a VK in the eyes of a very prejudiced school? How truly evil. I'm so offended!" Sadie wailed sarcastically.

"No, they already think you're a VK. That wouldn't be any fun. However, I think we should all have a little reminder of what happened a few years ago."

Audrey pulled a Polaroid picture out of her purse; Sadie could tell that it was a Polaroid due to the slight frosty feel of the paper. Without even looking, Sadie could guess what was on it, but she tilted her eyes down to look at the picture anyway.

The photo was taken when Sadie was twelve. She was being pinned against a locker by a boy who was so coldhearted she made Marshmallow look tame in comparison. Sadie was turning her head away, squirming, trying to release herself from his grip. After all, Chad Charming was walking down the hall…

"You broke a royal's heart," Audrey grinned, "and I think that too many people forgot. If people thought that you denied the wishes of royals on a regular basis…"

"This was different, and you know it. I didn't break his heart; he was trying to take something from me that I didn't want to give him. Where the bloody hell did you even find that?" Sadie growled.

"I have my sources. Unlike you, people actually like me," Audrey grinned prettily.

"You're sick," Sadie growled as she stalked away.

"Did I do it?" Audrey mocked. "Did I finally beat the infamous _Sadie_ in an argument? Oh, this feels wonderful! I didn't think you'd let me re-release this photo so easily! You must really not care about your image at all, do you?"

Sadie cursed the fact that Ben's office door was made out of the thickest oak known to man as she froze and turned around. She knew that if he could hear a word of what was going on, he'd defend her in a heartbeat.

"What do you want, Audrey?" Sadie asked.

Audrey could have jumped up with glee; she was so thrilled. "Finally, I got you to say that! It feels so good to put an orphan in her place."

"By behaving like a villain. Your parents would be so proud, I'm sure. But now that you've gotten this far, what do you want from me?"

"Hmm," Audrey replied. "I don't actually want you to do anything for me. I just wanted to give you a little advance warning about tomorrow."

She walked off, clutching the picture in triumph. Sadie wanted to scream. She wanted to curse Audrey. She wanted to…No. Sadie knew that she couldn't do any of that. Doug was right, she thought, Audrey really did stop at nothing to brutally destroy her enemies. However, Sadie wasn't worried at all. If this meant that she just had to relive one of the worst moments of her life to finally clear her name, so be it. Besides, this was an open-and-shut case years ago. If anything, this situation was making Audrey look bad, not her.

Still, she couldn't help the large pit that was growing in her stomach. Could Audrey actually make her into something she wasn't by bending the truth? Sadie was sure that she could. But would anyone actually believe her? That Sadie didn't know, and Sadie hated not knowing things.


	5. Night at the Museum

**Hello again readers! I wasn't expecting to see you so soon, but I was just too excited to write this latest chapter! It was originally going to be a big action scene, but it turned into this instead, which I actually like a lot more. Big action scenes are in the works for later installments of Sadie's adventure, so stay tuned for that! We also get some more concrete evidence of Sadie's heritage in this chapter, so as usual, any guesses can be sent to me by review or PM! If you do end up getting it right before the big reveal, I will do something special for you; haven't figured out what that will be yet, but you will get something!**

 **Thanks to sable-rover (again!) and SnarkyGoblin for their reviews/PMs! I love hearing from everyone!**

 **Enjoy the chapter, guys!**

 **~Raven**

Chapter 6: Night at the Museum

Sadie gasped as she was awakened in the middle of the night. Sadly, she had to come out of the lovely dream she'd been having; in it, she had just melted that accursed Polaroid and was letting the colors bleed all over Audrey's face while the other girl was screaming stupidly about her makeup.

Sadie did know why she was so rudely awakened: her instincts had sensed that someone had used magic. She had no idea how she had this talent; she assumed that she had inherited it from her mother. Sometimes, she would be able to know if someone was coming minutes before they arrived. She and Merlin had also noticed that Sadie had a real knack for divination, translating magical languages, and potions, which were her mother's strongest talents besides curses, according to Merlin. However, whenever Sadie would press further and ask for a name, Merlin fell silent, and quickly changed the subject.

Normally, when she got the shock of magic being used at a distance, it was because Merlin was running some sort of errand for the king; even though magic was illegal, the king could still call upon his advisor to use it in necessary circumstances. This time though, the magic felt different. Instead of Merlin's familiar light magic, which was calm and peaceful, this magic was dark and felt incredibly sinister. Sadie could only surmise one thing: the VKs were up to something, and since Mal had been so curious about magic wands earlier, there was only one place where they could possibly be.

Taking care not to wake Lonnie, her dear roommate and friend, Sadie slipped out of bed, and quickly tossed on socks and boots, along with her brown bomber jacket. That's right ladies and gentlemen, Sadie was going to save Auradon in her flannel jammies. She found this thought very amusing. However, her mind quickly sharpened, and she tried to shake off the tiredness as she muttered a quick " _W'peh_ " in order to open the large chest on her side of the room.

Lonnie was an excellent secret-keeper, so when Sadie told her that she wanted to store some of her magical supplies in their shared dorm, the warrior's daughter eagerly agreed, no questions asked. The two were close friends, and Lonnie knew that Sadie would never use magic to cheat or otherwise make life that much easier for herself. Sadie also trusted that Lonnie wouldn't run to Fairy Godmother; she knew that her friend was no tattle-tale.

Sadie, however, didn't trust that Lonnie wouldn't touch her stuff (that girl was always trying to find some way to make her hair look cool), so she had locked the chest with a spell that would enable it to open only when the Divine Word for "open" was spoken. The Divine Words were the most powerful words that a magician could ever speak, and Sadie was a natural with them. Merlin had taught her though, to only use the Divine Words if there were truly no other spells that could perform a similar function. The Words were incredibly powerful and difficult to use in succession.

The chest opened with a soft click, and Sadie quickly grabbed a staff, a wand, and four falcon statues. She shoved her hastily gathered supplies into a bag with one shoulder strap, and threw on her boots without bothering to lace them. She could do that later.

After quietly closing the door, Sadie crept down the hallway until she got to the staircase, and then she bolted. She knew that it wasn't a long walk from Auradon Prep to the museum; this was done so that students had easy access to the museum's wealth of knowledge.

Or powerful artifacts, like Fairy Godmother's wand, Sadie grumbled as she ran. Honestly, why didn't they just put a fake wand in the museum, and hide the real one in a safe location that no one could find except for Fairy Godmother? Oh right, Sadie internally groaned, this was _Auradon_. Everybody trusted everybody, which, in Sadie's opinion, was an awful mindset to have. She didn't trust anybody, except for Merlin, Doug, Lonnie, and Ben.

When she got to the museum, she noted that the door had already been unlocked, with a faint trace of that evil magic on the door. Most likely Mal's doing, Sadie assumed. The guard had been pricked by Maleficent's spinning wheel somehow, and the sense of evil magic became more apparent to Sadie as she entered the room. She had never sensed anything like this in her life, and hoped never to again. It felt like sharp thorns were pricking at her body whenever she took a step. Sadie wondered how Mal could possibly be okay with having magic that could make people feel pain with its presence alone. Then again, she was Maleficent's daughter...Stop it, Sadie chided herself, now you're thinking like Audrey. She quickly moved towards the room with the wand and silently prayed that the VKs had gotten lost in the museum. She had a trap to set up.

Thankfully, when Sadie arrived at the wand room, the VKs were nowhere in sight. She quickly pulled out the four falcon statues that she had brought with her, and placed them around the glass case, one bird at each of the cardinal directions. She tapped her wand against the floor, and the statues transformed into a shimmering blue protective dome that she knew would ward off any would-be wand thieves. Once the trap had been laid, Sadie hid behind a giant gargoyle pillar. Now, she thought, what to do next? She could fight the VKs, but that wouldn't solve any problems at all; it would only start them. Wait a minute, solving problems…With a burst of inspiration, Sadie thought of a way to solve a problem of her own. She waved her staff and muttered " _Hah-ri"_. Instantly, every security camera and alarm in the room shut itself off, and Sadie smirked as she heard the clicks and slow whirs. Now, she thought, the rest is up to chance.

Sure enough, the four VKs arrived in the room, and Jay tried to leap for the wand. Sadie had to admit, he was an excellent athlete; however, her dome was stronger. As soon as he hit the shield, Jay went sprawling backwards across the hall.

"Evening," Sadie casually called out as she revealed herself from behind the pillar, wand raised, and the looks on their faces were priceless. Mal looked like she was trying to turn Sadie to stone with a glare, while Evie and Carlos opted for more sheer surprise. Jay stepped in front of the younger boy, as if to protect him from what was coming.

"I had a feeling you knew magic," Evie managed to say. "You can't live with Merlin for as long as you have and be completely oblivious."

"And you were correct," Sadie replied easily. "Now, I'm not going to call security or anything like that on you; in fact, all the security tech in this room has recently had a brief malfunction that I'm sure will be fixed in a few minutes."

"You did that, didn't you?" Mal asked venomously. "So that you could do what, beat us up? Go ahead and try."

"Why fight when you can negotiate?" Sadie asked.

"You're going to try and make a deal with me? Right now, after you've just stopped us from getting what we want?" Mal asked. "You must be an idiot."

"On the contrary, Mal, I'm no fool. You see, normally, the alarms would have gone off by now, and every last move that you just made would have been caught by the security cameras."

"Security cameras?" Carlos asked. "Where?"

"All around the room." To gain their trust, Sadie pointed them out. "Honestly, these are the only security cameras in the entire museum; this is what's considered a 'high-security area' in Auradon. They didn't even put a fake wand in that case, and normally, the case isn't even that well-protected. The dome was my doing, and I must say, I'm quite pleased with my handiwork."

"You think like a villain, breaking the laws and gaming the system," Jay smirked. "I'm almost impressed."

"Why thank you, but I don't consider myself to be a villain. Now, back to our deal. Mal, I assume you're the one doing the magic? Unless Carlos has some hidden power that he's never talked about."

"Um…no, no, I don't," Carlos replied. "Mal's the one who's been doing it."

"No surprise there. Now, Mal, I have a picture that I need wiped off of the face of the earth. It's an old Polaroid in Audrey's room."

"And why do I owe you anything?"

"Because I have just ensured that you all will be able to stay in Auradon. If any of the events of this evening were caught on security tapes, I would probably be suspended for a month and get plonked in Remedial Goodness 101 upon my return, but you all would be sent back to the Isle, effective immediately, without accomplishing your ulterior motive. I assume your parents would be delighted to know how badly you failed."

She saw all of the VKs flinch at that remark, but Carlos seemed to be the most affected on the surface. The other three were better at hiding their emotions, or they were just more fearless than he was, Sadie wasn't sure. Suddenly, Mal started to smirk.

"You'd fit right in on the Isle, Sadie. Okay, I'll melt your picture, but what am I getting in return?"

"I told you, you all get to stay on Auradon as if this night never happened. Let's all head home, yeah?"

With that uneasy truce settled, Sadie and the four villains all walked out of the museum.

"Now," Sadie said, "I'm going to turn the alarms on in one minute. I suggest you get moving." As soon as Sadie turned towards the museum, she heard four pairs of footsteps bolting towards Auradon Prep. Once they were out of range of the alarm, she summoned her falcon statues back to her bag, and released her " _Hah-ri_ " spell.

Sadie felt like her body could shut down at any minute; she assumed this was what happened when you used two Divine Words and a summoning spell in the span of one hour, not even thinking about the fact that she was barely awake herself. Hoping she had enough energy for one last spell, she imagined her bed with its fluffy pillows and muttered "Zeheb" as the alarm was about to blare. She knew that the spell was successful when she felt a soft blanket envelop her in its warm embrace.

 **Translations of Divine Words:**

 **"W'peh"- "Open"**

 **"Hah-ri"- "Silence"**

 **"Zeheb"- "Return Home"**


	6. The Cage Rattles

**I bet you all thought that I'd forgotten about this story? Well, no, I haven't; I've just been too lazy to write it. I have plenty of big twists ahead for the future, so stay tuned for more Sadie! More is revealed about Sadie's parents in this chapter, so as usual, if you have any guesses, review or PM me! Enjoy the chapter, guys!**

Chapter 7

Sadie awoke the next morning with an enormous headache, which she assumed was another aftereffect of using three Divine Words. She also sensed a lingering trace of evil magic in the air, so she assumed that Mal had done as she asked and melted Audrey's Polaroid. Despite her aching head, and really, aching everywhere, Sadie managed to smile slightly as she hobbled towards the shower and heard a wail from the room above hers.

Sleeping Beauty must have just woken up to a melted Polaroid dripping all over her desk, Sadie grinned, but then frowned as she considered that by melting Audrey's Polaroid, she may have actually made things worse. She turned on the shower; being around water always helped her think. Sometimes, she would joke that the sea was in her blood when she was a little girl, but for some reason, Merlin never smiled when she said that; if anything, whenever she started talking about the sea or water, he would start to frown, so she dropped the topic.

Back to the matter at hand, Sadie thought as she chided herself for her own rashness while she stepped into the shower. If she hadn't had Mal melt the Polaroid, and managed to get the godforsaken image out of Audrey's talons, she could have brought it to Fairy Godmother's attention and gotten Audrey in trouble, or, if Audrey had decided to re-tell the worst moments of Sadie's life, then Sadie could have used the picture as evidence that the attention that Prince Erik had been giving her was clearly unwanted; the look on her face in the picture was proof enough of that. Instead, she had destroyed the only piece of evidence that might have been useful, and therefore given Audrey even more of an advantage; it was Audrey's word against hers, and she knew that most people would take Audrey's side only because they didn't want her ruining their lives. Either that or they actually thought she was nice. Ugh.

If anything, Sadie thought, Audrey would most likely have destroyed the picture anyway. That's certainly what Sadie knew that she would do before she made an outlandish accusation: destroy all evidence to the contrary claim. As the warm water rushed over her face, Sadie groaned. She had inadvertently screwed herself over, and now she had to talk her way out of this before people assumed that she was some kind of temptress. Sadie almost chuckled; the idea of her being any kind of temptress was laughable. She had nothing to speak of in the curves department, she wasn't exceptionally tall or leggy, her hair was about as flat as her chest, and she was too blunt and sarcastic to ever be considered "sexy."

So the temptress theory's out, Sadie decided as she pulled on her jeans. What's Audrey going to do, then? Well, she thought as she yanked on her boots, no matter what Audrey does, I'll be ready for it. I always am.

She slipped her sleeves through her faux-leather motorcycle jacket as she headed out to face whatever the Princess of Drama had in store for her, but almost forgot her backpack before she headed out. Typical. At least the warm shower had calmed her headache down immensely.

What Sadie didn't expect to find as soon as she walked down the stairs, however, was an irate Fairy Godmother.

"Good…morning Fairy Godmother?" Sade asked nervously.

"Good morning, Sadie," the older woman replied stiffly. "You wouldn't believe what the security guard showed me on the museum's security tapes last night."

"And that would be…?"

"I saw you in the wand room, placing falcon statues around my wand. I know that those statues are how Merlin has taught you to cast protection spells, so tell me, what prompted you to do such a thing?"

"Well, Fairy Godmother, the truth is…" Sadie didn't know what to do. She could have ratted out the VKs, but she had seen how they, especially Carlos, had reacted when she had brought up their parents' reactions to failure the night before. She didn't want to send them home to a most likely abusive environment if she could help it. On the other hand, lying to Fairy Godmother was an evil thing to do.

"I thought that the wand could use a little extra security," Sadie replied truthfully. While this wasn't technically a lie, it was far from the whole truth.

"Right, but why would you do so at ten o'clock on a Tuesday night?" Fairy Godmother pressed on.

"It was a spur-of-the-moment thing," Sadie stated. Also a little true, and a little false.

Fairy Godmother scrutinized Sadie's expression, as if she could sniff out a lie simply by staring at her target long enough. Sadie hoped her face gave nothing away.

"I do hope that with time, you'll learn not to use your magic so recklessly," Fairy Godmother glared. "I'll let this slide because you were trying to protect Auradon's greatest treasure, but I had better not hear that you've been using magic to do anything else."

"Fairy Godmother!" Audrey called. Sadie was momentarily satisfied to see that Audrey's hands were covered in multi-colored melted Polaroid. "Thank goodness. I found a melted Polaroid in my room this morning, and it wasn't near a window."

"Sadie, I believe you and Miss Audrey will be coming to my office this instant," Fairy Godmother frowned.

Fairy Godmother's office is really sparsely decorated, Sadie thought as she stepped inside. Surprising for a woman who's created some of the glitziest items in Auradon. Sometimes, focusing on the little things helped Sadie calm down in dangerous situations. She knew this. After all, when she was twelve during the whole incident with Prince Erik, she had been focused on the cold feel of the locker metal up against her back, as well as a tiny mole near his left eye: the only imperfection on a boy who otherwise looked like he had been carved from ice. Well, before Sadie hit him with a locker door ten seconds later in self-defense, anyhow.

"Sadie," Fairy Godmother frowned in disapproval, "I'm sure you can guess why we're here. Did you melt that picture, dear?"

While Sadie had never met a villain, she wagered that Fairy Godmother was acting quite a bit like one. She knew that if she wanted to get out of this stare down quickly, and with her reputation more or less intact, no less, that she should tell the truth and rat Mal out. However, Sadie was no tattletale, and she had some honor. She messed this up royally, so she should take the fall.

"Yes," Sadie replied, looking Fairy Godmother dead in the eyes even though she just lied through her teeth. "Audrey was going to use it as blackmail material against me."

"Really?" Fairy Godmother's eyebrow shot up. "And just what were you trying to make her do, Audrey?"

"Nothing at all, ma'am," Audrey gave the older woman and innocent smile. "I just showed Sadie that old picture, and I guess she got angry enough to melt it with magic while I was asleep. Speaking of, isn't it illegal for her to do that, Fairy Godmother?" Audrey asked innocently.

"Indeed it is," Fairy Godmother replied, sternly staring at Sadie.

"Don't you want to know what that picture was of, Fairy Godmother?" Sadie asked. "It was…"

"A picture of me and my friends having a picnic," Audrey interrupted. "If you were to ask me, I'd guess that Sadie got momentarily jealous of people who understand that the strongest spell of all is one that we can all cast: friendship. No fancy wands or magic knowledge required."

"How well put, dear!" Fairy Godmother grinned. "You're free to go."

"Thank you!" Audrey chirped as she left the room.

"Fairy Godmother, I hope you realize that she's lying," Sadie said, scrunching up her face. "That monologue was so see-through that she might as well have been holding an X-ray to her face…"

"She made some very valid points," Fairy Godmother scolded, "and you know as well as I do that no one lies in Auradon. Sadie, this time I'll give you a warning, but the next time you use magic without my or Ben's permission, I won't hesitate to put you in handcuffs. Magic is illegal in Auradon for a reason, and even the king's advisor must follow the rules."

"I understand that, Fairy Godmother," Sadie replied, "but I also believe that if you clamp down on something harshly, it will eventually come back to bite you in the end."

"Sadie," Fairy Godmother glared, "one more remark like that and I'll send you straight to Remedial Goodness! Honestly, I though that Merlin would have steered you away from your father's way of…"

"What?" Sadie asked, genuinely surprised. "My father's way of what? Wait, Fairy Godmother, you know who my parents are?"

"Yes," Fairy Godmother stared down at the desk sadly, "and after today's episode, you're clearly not ready to know."

"But I'm fifteen!" Sadie exclaimed. "I've gotten to my sophomore year of high school not knowing a thing about my parents and you knew the whole time…"

"Sadie," Fairy Godmother kept staring at her desk, "you're not ready to know. Now, you'll be late to breakfast if you keep standing here. Go. Please."

Since Fairy Godmother sounded like she was about to have a nervous breakdown, Sadie obliged. However, she did get one important bit of information out of that conversation: whoever her father was, she shared some core values with him. That thought completely overrode her dramas with Audrey, and so, Sadie was able to walk off to breakfast with a smile.


	7. How to Lose a Friend in Thirty Minutes

Chapter 8

"Hey Sadie!" Lonnie called as she walked into their shared room. "I'm gonna pick up a late night snack from the kitchens; wanna come?"

It had been a long day for Sadie. After learning a tidbit more about her father, she had also had to deal with a geometry test, AP Auradonian Government homework, and she also had to study her French for an upcoming test. Mostly, however, her thoughts focused on her father. Who was he, and why did Fairy Godmother think she wasn't ready to know? He must be a villain, Sadie thought. Otherwise, Fairy Godmother wouldn't care about whether I knew or not. Or maybe one of the princes had an affair with a witch, and Fairy Godmother refuses to tell me for fear of ruining someone else's dad's reputation. Please don't tell me I'm half-siblings with Chad or Audrey. That would be awful.

"Sadie? Are you okay?" Lonnie asked, trying to snap her friend out of her funk. "Normally, you would've responded right away."

"I'm good," Sadie replied easily, "and I'd love to grab some food with you."

"Seriously, what's up?" Lonnie pressed as the girls started walking towards the kitchens. "You've been acting weird all day."

"And what do you mean by that?" Sadie asked her.

"I mean that you haven't taken a break from your work for one second. Usually, you end up talking to me for ten minutes right in the middle of it about some random detail, and then remind yourself that you have to work."

Sadie hadn't even considered that she might be acting differently. However, she did take into account that she wasn't paying as much attention in Chemistry as she normally did; usually, she would have been more astonished at Evie's remarkable knowledge of how to calculate the atomic weight of silver without even seeming like she had to try. She had felt a slight tinge of magic before Evie had given her answer, though, like she had just slid her hand over a glass wall. That meant…wait, Evie had used magic in class, gotten away with it, and Sadie had barely noticed?! She was also just starting to notice that her right hand felt like it had fallen asleep due to the number of prickly, numbing tingles in it. She looked around for a source, and noticed her best friend's new hairdo. Wait…

"Lonnie?" Sadie asked. "What happened to your hair?"

"You finally noticed," Lonnie commented sarcastically. "I told you that you were totally off your game today. Well, I went to see Mal, paid a little money, and got a cool new hairdo out of it!"

"It looks great, but did she use magic on your hair?"

"Yeah," Lonnie replied, "but what's the big deal? It's not like she cursed a kingdom or anything."

"Lonnie, I am so, so thankful that you're tolerant of magic users," Sadie stated, "but promise me that you won't let just anyone cast any spell on you ever again."

"I promise," Lonnie replied. "Pinky swear?" She held out said finger.

"Of course," Sadie replied, crossing her finger with Lonnie's.

"All right," Sadie heard as she and Lonnie approached the kitchen, "it says that we still need one tear, and I never cry." Sadie recognized Mal's voice coming from the kitchen, but she wasn't sure why the other girl would need a tear for cooking. Unless…the VKs were trying to use magic for some nefarious purpose. Sadie felt her brain shift off of autopilot, and everything felt like it was coming back into focus. Time to stop the VKs. Again.

"Let's just chop up some onions," Carlos commented, and Sadie tried to hold back a smile.

"No," Mal shot him down immediately, "it says that we need one tear of human sadness, and this love potion is the best, so we have to follow it exactly."

"Lonnie," Sadie muttered, "are you hearing this?"

"Yeah," she whispered back, "what are they doing?"

"Apparently, nothing good," Sadie replied. "I'll see if I can sort this out. Would you mind waiting out here for a few minutes?"

"Why?" Lonnie asked. "This is nothing that we can't handle together."

"Fair enough. You get them talking, I'll take a peek at the recipe, yeah?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Lonnie grinned. "Sadie and Lonnie, back at it again, like the old times."

Sadie remembered the old times about as well as Lonnie did. She smiled slightly as her friend opened the door.

"There you are, Mal!" Lonnie called out as the two girls stepped into the kitchen. "I was looking for you. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair!" She glanced at the batter. "Midnight snack, huh? What you guys making?"

As Sadie expected, all eyes turned to Lonnie while she ducked to the side, just out of sight. She headed towards the snack cupboard, sneaking glances behind her towards Mal's book. Blast. She'd closed it.

"Nothing special," Mal replied, "Just cookies."

Lonnie quickly glanced over to Sadie, and silently asked her if she could see the book. Sadie quietly shook her head no. Mal still had the book firmly enclosed in her hand. They had to get it out of there. Thinking quickly, Lonnie dropped her index finger towards the bowl.

"Oh no no!" Mal called out, and Lonnie moved her hand away from the bowl.

"What?" Lonnie asked innocently. "I'm not gonna double dip."

It was then that Sadie "accidentally" struck the table with her hip, and the VK's flew into a panic in order to preserve their cookie dough. Carlos took a step back, and Evie lunged for the dough, which did more harm than good; it was clear Evie wasn't much of an athlete, and the dough almost fell off the table. Jay ran to help Mal, but she had to drop the book in order to get a decent grip on the bowl. As soon as the book hit the floor, Lonnie picked it up, and brought it over to her friend.

"Sorry!" Sadie called out. "Bit of a klutz."

"No, you're not," Jay glared at the Auradonians. "You two definitely planned that."

"Sadie, why did you do that?" Carlos asked.

"Give me my book back," Mal frowned.

"You're forgetting the magic word," Sadie teased as she flipped through the pages. Most of the spells inside were simple rhyming couplet spells, but they could do just as much damage as any spell in any magical language. Except the Divine Words, but even then, if someone had a solidly magical bloodline, these spells could stand up to them. Sadie had a feeling Mal might qualify as someone with said bloodline.

"What's the magic word?" Evie asked.

"You've never heard that phrase before?" Lonnie stared at them in stupefied disbelief.

"Lonnie, don't tell them what it is just yet," Sadie continued. "I'm looking for…ah, here it is. The big bad fairy's love cookie recipe. Wouldn't think that the Mistress of All Evil would be much of a baker, but actually, this recipe doesn't look too bad. Needs chocolate chips though, and may I ask…?"

"No," Mal replied coldly, "no, you may not ask. May I have my book back?"

"Not yet," Sadie replied, "I just want to know who the cookies are for."

Mal and Evie had a silent conversation.

"They're for Ben," Mal stated.

"Interesting," Sadie said, "and who will be the lucky girl who gets to be his girlfriend?"

Mal looked resigned to telling the truth. Maybe Auradon was starting to rub off on her, Sadie thought. "Me."

"One more question," Sadie said, "and then you get your book back.

Mal and Evie had another silent conversation. Sadie was starting to hate those.

"What is it?" Mal asked, sounding as if she was about to snap.

"Will these cookies be strong enough to make Ben dump Audrey for good?"

"They're my mom's recipe," Mal replied as if Sadie were stupid. "Of course he'll dump Audrey."

"Then carry on," Sadie stated as she threw the book back to Mal. "I won't tell anyone a thing."

"You're…not going to tell Fairy Godmother?" Carlos asked cautiously.

"No," Sadie smiled, "I'm in enough trouble with her as it is. I forgot to silence the cameras before I put up my protective dome over the wand."

"What?" Lonnie asked. "When were you in the museum, and why do you guys seem to know?"

Sadie and the VKs quickly filled Lonnie in on what had happened; it was pointless to leave her out of this mess now. However, they skimmed over the messy bit about the VKs trying to steal Fairy Godmother's wand. The story they came up with was that the VKs were still up to their old habits of breaking into buildings late at night, and Sadie protected the wand in case the foursome tried to steal it.

"Sadie," Lonnie asked, "why didn't you tell me about the museum? I could've helped."

"I wanted to leave you out of it," Sadie replied. "Simple as that. The fewer people who are involved in this drama, the better."

"I get that," Lonnie replied, "but frankly, this was an emergency, and I could've helped you stay out of trouble with Fairy Godmother."

"Right, because of your blatantly heroic parentage," Sadie frowned, and Lonnie dipped her head slightly in shame.

"Wait, Fairy Godmother's that biased?" Mal asked.

"Not against you, necessarily, since she's trying to redeem you guys," Lonnie replied, "but for some reason, she's always had it in for Sadie. Since we were kids, she's always tried especially hard to drill goodness into her."

"Why?" Evie asked.

"Who knows? You still need your tear of sadness, right?" Sadie asked. "That's the last thing you're missing. Well then, let's see if I have a tale that helps."

"Sadie, are you going to tell them that story? And also, why would you?" Lonnie asked in stupefied disbelief.

"Well, I was considering it, but now that you mentioned it, I have to," Sadie sighed.

"No," Lonnie stated, "You shouldn't have to relive that."

"Lonnie, if I do, it'll help Ben," Sadie stated firmly. "I think a few tears are worth it to save Auradon from Audrey being its queen."

Lonnie's face turned into a blank slate, clearly disapproving of Sadie's decision. "Go ahead."

Sadie took a deep breath. "When I was a child, Lonnie and I would pull harmless pranks on the other kids in our grade on the playground. That all stopped in fourth grade, when Audrey's grandmum thought that I should be transferred to the Isle for my misdeeds. To give you context, my greatest 'misdeed' was making it look like Audrey pooped her dress."

"That doesn't sound very tragic," Evie commented.

"I'm not telling you this to make you cry," Sadie shrugged.

"Anyway, even though Fairy Godmother didn't seem to think that my mischief-making was enough of a reason to send me to the Isle, she's kept a close eye on me ever since. Remember that my parentage is unknown; for all I know, I'm as villainous as you. Even though the pranks stopped in fourth grade, Audrey made sure that my reputation as a potential VK was always in the back of everyone's minds. Ben and Lonnie and Doug are my only real friends here at Auradon Prep."

"Again, not seeing the tragedy," Mal commented, "You have friends, a nice guardian, powerful magic…"

"As I said, I'm getting there! Now, because of the fact that I only had three friends at Auradon Prep, and because of the fact that my parents couldn't come to my defense if anything happened to me, I was considered a target if my friends weren't around to some boys, namely Chad Charming and his buddies. Chad's friend Erik, son of Elsa, was a particular favorite of mine."

"I haven't seen his name anywhere," Evie commented.

"Well, that's because he got expelled," Sadie replied.

"For what?"

Sadie's face turned blank.

"Assault. When I was in eighth grade…he tried to take advantage of me by pinning me up against the lockers during lunch break. I hit him with a locker door in self-defense. Audrey and her friends were standing nearby. Instead of helping me fight Erik off, she and her gal pals decided to take photos and laugh instead. I believe they told me 'Finally, she gets what she deserves.'"

"You didn't deserve that though, Sadie. You didn't," Lonnie touched her friend's shoulder in sympathy, and tears were welling in her eyes. When one of them fell, Mal collected it in a vial.

"Wait," Lonnie said as she looked into her friend's eyes, "you're not crying."

"Lonnie, I came to terms with my assault long ago. But I know that you still haven't."

"Wait, so…you…you made me cry so that my tears would help them make their love potion cookies that could reshape Auradon as we know it?!"

"Well, when you put it that way…yeah."

"That was completely uncalled for!"

Lonnie looked furious, but Sadie knew that she wouldn't stay mad at her for long. Usually.

"We'll be leaving now. Have fun baking your cookies!" Lonnie called out as she strongarmed her friend out of the kitchen. Sadie could hear Mal telling her friends to start baking. Once the two had reached a more private place to talk, Lonnie let go of Sadie's wrist.

"Listen, Lonnie," Sadie said, raising her hands in a placating gesture like she usually did when she was nervous, "if Audrey became queen of Auradon, you know that she'd send me straight to the Isle as soon as she got the chance. Any chance of redemption that VKs might get would be trod into the dirt. There would be more prejudice in Auradon than there has ever been before. Is that the kingdom you want?"

"I couldn't care less about the fact that the VKs are here," Lonnie stated. "What I care about, Sadie, is that you betrayed my trust, and the entire kingdom to a degree, just to save yourself from potential eternal damnation. As far as I'm concerned, no matter how evil those VKs end up being, you're just as sneaky as anyone on that island."

"How can you call me evil when I'm just trying to do what's right for Auradon?"

"No, you're doing what's right for Sadie. What would've been right for Auradon is letting Ben get to decide who he loves for himself instead of letting some girl that you barely know make love potion cookies for him."

"What if I told you that Ben's had a dream about Mal?"

"I wouldn't believe you. Frankly, you're becoming harder to trust."

"I trust that everything will be fine in the end," Sadie called out as Lonnie walked back to their room.

"And I trust that Audrey might be right about you," Lonnie called right back.

That hurt, and Sadie knew that she would not be sharing a room with her roommate that night. Both of them had to work this out for themselves before they could talk again. However, Sadie knew that she was in the right as she thought about it on the way to the dungeons of Auradon Prep.

Ben told her about the dream about Mal the morning after he'd had it; as soon as Sadie saw the purple-haired girl, she'd known that Ben would fall in love with her. He just needed a little push, but Lonnie would never understand that. She knew Ben well, but not well enough to realize that sometimes, he needed some help realizing that he could put his own wants above the kingdom's sometimes, especially when it came to personal things like love. Still, it did nothing to ease Sadie's fear that she might have lost one of her best friends over a gamble to save Auradon from Audrey's wrath.

Regardless, Sadie thought as she approached the dungeons, I know that this will work out. Ben will finally get the courage to do something for himself for once, the VKs will be accepted into the community at large, fireworks will light up the sky at Auradon Prep, and we'll all have cake.

She found herself standing in front of a brick wall at the end of a long hallway. There were no true cells in the dungeon; she just called it that because the "dungeon" floor was usually the lowest floor in a castle.

"Sun-ah," Sadie whispered as golden glyphs appeared in her right palm, and a keyhole materialized into view.

"W'peh," she whispered, and the wall swung open to reveal Sadie's favorite place in all of Auradon Prep.

The secret lair had been Lonnie's idea, actually, and it all started when Sadie revealed her magic to her at a young age. Lonnie had joked that Sadie needed a secret lair, like all wizards do, and Sadie had decided to take it upon herself to create one. A few years later, she, Lonnie, Merlin, Doug, and Ben had finished designing her secret place, where she could practice her magic without anyone knowing. A hammock lined with purple and green throw pillows was hung in the corner of the room. Magic books were semi-neatly lined up on a small shelf.

Sadie didn't care to scan around the mess of a secret lair at the moment, but she was dreading sleeping without her protective pillow. That was up in the room with Lonnie, and Sadie didn't feel like facing her old friend right that moment. Instead, she actually hoped that dreaming without the pillow might help her find some peace. Merlin had told Sadie that her mother was a diviner at heart, and Sadie knew that whatever gene divination was, it ran in the family. Whenever Sadie went to sleep without Merlin's custom-made pillow, she dreamed of the future. She hoped that she'd see a happy one this time.


	8. Sweet Dreams Are Not Made of These

**Happy (almost) one-year anniversary to this story! Fun fact: I first created Sadie in 2015, and I honestly didn't know who her parents were going to be. I just knew that I wanted to create a character who could use magic, was raised by Merlin, and didn't have to rely so heavily on her parentage in order to make a difference in the story. After watching D2, however, I came up with an idea for Sadie's parents, and it's stuck ever since. More hints in this chapter; as always, if you think you can guess who her parents are, just leave me a review or a PM! While I'm here, I'd like to quickly thank all 14 followers, and 9 favoriters, for this story. The more demand there is, the more motivated I am to supply you all with fiction. As a present for all of you, here's a bit of foreshadowing for what's to come in the most cliche foreshadowing format ever: a dream sequence. Oh, and I want to give you all a quick trigger warning for blood and gore, as well as the ends of a childbirth. Again, it's mild on both counts, but if you find those themes disquieting, I'd advise you scroll past to the end of the chapter.**

 **Special shoutout to Leonis Serviert! His OC will be making an appearance in this chapter, as well as later on in Sadie's story, so stay tuned...**

 **Sorry for the long A/N. Enjoy guys!**

Chapter 9

The first thing Sadie saw in her dream was a white-haired boy working in a lab. She wasn't sure who he was, or what he was doing, but he looked busy as he worked away on an unknown project underneath bright light blue lights, his back to her. A strange cube was suspended in midair by some kind of device nearby. Sadie wondered what it was, and what kind of secrets it held. Just as she noticed that there were portholes functioning as windows, and the entire lab was underwater, her visions changed.

Now, Sadie found her dream self trapped in a cell; she could tell by the bars that were right in front of her vision. Wherever she was, it was dark, and she could hear a boy singing. As her vision started to blur out, she saw a silver hook reach toward her through the bars, and the boy's voice, as if he was speaking to her from underwater, said, "So you're the king's advisor? Well, well, well."

The next vision showed a man in an Auradonian guard's uniform being held down by two burly teenagers who could have only been from the Isle of the Lost. Sadie could see a girl standing behind him with a sword. The strange girl grinned triumphantly, and then proceeded to cleanly slice the guard's head off. Sadie watched in horror as his blood trickled onto the Isle's pavement, while the girl triumphantly held up the guard's permanently terrified head, and her vision blurred and changed again.

A compass rose completely encompassed her vision this time, the needle spinning wildly and never landing on a single point. As the vision faded, Sadie heard a girl's voice desperately screaming, "WORK, DAMN YOU! WORK!" Thankfully, the mysterious voice sounded nothing like Sadie's own.

Almost as if the dream was trying to comfort her, Sadie felt herself slowly awaken from a dreamlike state, as if she'd been sleeping for ages. Her lips felt warm and tingly, like how she'd imagine they'd feel if someone kissed her. Just as her dream self was opening her eyes to look at her savior, Sadie's vision changed again.

At first, all she heard was a woman panting, and she felt warm and sticky. She tried to raise her arms to wipe off the goo, but as she raised her arms, she saw that they were about the size of a baby's. As the woman's breathing subsided, she looked Sadie in the eyes, and smiled with both triumph and gentleness. Her face was covered in tattoos and sweat, with one rather grotesque eye-shaped marking in the center of her forehead, and she needed to see a dentist. Nevertheless, Sadie quickly saw parts of her own appearance in this woman, and realized with a shock that she was looking at her mother.

Her mother picked her up with heavily tattooed arms, and swaddled her in rags with as much motherly affection as could be expected from a woman who knew she was about to give her child away. Sadie watched as her mother quickly threw water and other magical herbs into a cauldron. After the proper words were spoken, the water glowed a brilliant blue, and the young woman smiled at her child one last time.

"Good luck out there, Sadie," she said with a smile as she glanced down at the spot where the hastily created nametag that was tied around the baby's, no, Sadie's, foot, would be easily visible to her new caretaker once the rags were unwrapped. She shook her head and chuckled, "But if you're anything like your father, I don't think you'll ever have to worry about that."

She gently placed Sadie into the cauldron, and spoke a spell in a language that Sadie didn't know. As Sadie felt herself get pulled away by the magical current, she saw her mother's eyes turn somber as the water carried her away to a land of opportunity and kindness, and the vision faded.

Sadie finally awoke with a start, as if she'd just come up for air after almost drowning. She checked her phone for the time: 9:00 in the morning. She'd managed to miss most of first period and breakfast. Wonderful. Even better, all she could remember from her dream were images: a boy in a lab, a hook through a cell bar, a decapitated guard, a mysterious kiss, a spinning compass, and her mother's warm smile. Exactly none of that seemed like it would be helpful in the days ahead. Leaving the comfort of her lair for the pains (both of hunger and boredom) of geometry, Sadie felt like she had more questions than answers. She hoped that some of them would be solved soon.

 **Happy anniversary Sadie!**


	9. A Small Battle of Wills

**Sorry for the wait, everyone; I've been really busy these past few months, but I figured I should just finish up this latest chapter. Also, we're reaching the end of Descendants 1, as all of you undoubtedly know, and rest assured, I do have plans for Sadie's story all the way up until Descendants 3, but I probably won't be done with writing all of them up before D3 comes out. Thank you all for the 15 followers, and I'll give you all a present if we surpass 22 followers by the end of this update: I'll set up a poll, and you can decide between either A. A special oneshot with Sadie's role in a Descendants short, like "Under the Sea" or one of the Wicked World episodes, or B. A special hint as to who one of Sadie's parents is (you choose whether you want a hint for the mother or the father).**

 **Thank you all for all of the support so far; I know I can't expect much because I don't update often, so I'm always pleased with whatever I can get. As always, throw out your guesses for Sadie's parents in a review or a PM. I love to see what you all are thinking!**

 **~Raven**

Chapter 10

Sadie walked out of geometry class feeling as if she had been hit by Cinderella's pumpkin carriage as it was running away from the Grand Duke and his troops. In other words, she needed food, and fast. Thankfully, lunch was the next thing on her schedule.

"Hey!" someone called out behind her.

"Hi Carlos," Sadie mumbled as she groggily turned around to face the younger boy.

"I just thought you should know that uh…the cookies went over very well with Ben," he muttered as he got closer to her.

"Did they now?" Sadie asked just as quietly.

"Yeah, so, thanks for helping us bake them, I guess," he mumbled.

"This has been a lovely chat, but I need to get some food in me stat; I skipped breakfast this morning due to sleeping in too late," And having freaky visions of the future, but Carlos didn't need to know that.

"I was heading to lunch too! Do you need someone to eat with?" Truth be told, Sadie was just fine eating alone when Ben wasn't around. After all, that was what she did most of the time. No one liked sitting with the outsider. However, out of the four VKs, Carlos was the one who was least likely to plot out her murder, so Sadie agreed to it.

"You look exhausted," Carlos commented as they approached the cafeteria.

"A morning of classes with no breakfast will do that to you," Sadie replied.

"Well, uh, just tell me what you want, and I can get it for you. You can find us a table and sit down."

This kid was from the Isle? Since when? Sadie was too tired to protest, and flopped into a nearby chair whilst mumbling, "Chicken fingers, mac and cheese, fruit bowl, lemonade. Thank you."

When Carlos came back with the pair's food, Sadie couldn't help but be impressed. While Carlos had gotten a healthy portion of food for himself, he had spooned out twice as much food for her.

"Thanks," Sadie still mumbled in astonishment as she sank her teeth into some cut up peaches.

"No problem. You looked half-starved; as you can imagine, I'm used to seeing people with that look in their eyes. I've probably had that look a lot myself," he commented, as if it was normal to be starving. Sadie had a new appreciation for Ben's proclamation now. No child deserved to be trapped and hungry, no matter who their parents were.

"So the cookies worked, you said?"

"Yeah, according to Mal, Ben ate one, and started talking about the gold flecks in her eyes or something."

"Does Audrey know that Ben is now madly in love with Mal?"

"Not yet, I don't think," Carlos shrugged. "You really hate her, don't you?"

"When someone bullies you relentlessly for years because she doesn't know who your parents are, how do you think you'd feel?" Sadie asked as she dug into the generous portion of blueberries that Carlos spooned out. She was too tired to rein in her emotions at this point.

"You don't need to remind me. I know what being bullied is like."

"Somehow, I had a feeling that was the case. You're too kind for the Isle," Sadie stated honestly.

"Really? Uh, thanks, I guess?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.

"No problem," Sadie replied. "Glad the cookies went down well."

There was a slightly awkward, but comfortable, silence after that. Sadie had a feeling that Carlos, too, was used to being alone; ironically, for the same reasons that she was. He was a bit too good for the Isle; she was a bit too wicked for Auradon. And so was her father, apparently.

"Do you actually want us to succeed?" Carlos asked dubiously as Sadie finished off her fruit.

"Succeed at what?" Sadie asked back.

"If this plan goes the way we hope it will," Carlos whispered, leaning in closer to her, figuring he could trust her, "then Mal will be right up there with Ben at the coronation. You know, in wand-grabbing reach. You stopped us before. Why aren't you now?"

"Because I don't think Mal will reach for that wand," Sadie stated as she stirred her mac and cheese absentmindedly. The smell alone was enough to make her want to wolf down the whole bowl in one bite.

"Why not?" Carlos asked.

"Because trust me, when you've been around Ben long enough, his goodness rubs off on you. He has a way of changing people."

"What do you mean by that?" Carlos asked as he polished off his turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich.

"He has this gift for…making people able to see a brighter world. A new and better future, if you catch my drift."

"You don't know Mal at all though. She was practically queen bee on the Isle; she had her own turf and everything. Also, her mom is Maleficent, the most evil out of all of the villains on the Isle."

"Well, 'most evil' is an incredibly subjective term," Sadie replied, "and when you're around a genuinely kind person who helps you see a brighter future, who also happens to be deeply in love with you, you change."

"Yeah," Carlos's eyes drifted across the room to where Jane was sitting with Lonnie, her best friend who she had yet to talk to. "I can see how that might happen."

Sadie thought she might need to order some sparkling Dalmatian-printed wedding invitations shortly.

"If that's what you want to happen," Sadie advised sagely as she sank her teeth into her chicken finger, "then it will."

"I know I'm not supposed to say this, but I'm actually starting to like Auradon," Carlos smiled slightly.

"And that's the best attitude you could have. Now, it's time to convince your purple friend that her idea to be evil is, well, mal."

"I'm not sure if I can do that," Carlos scratched the back of his head. "Once she has a goal, she can get pretty single-minded."

"I hate to ask this, but she does have a heart, right?" Sadie asked. "You know, deep down under the whole 'I'm the boss and you'll all bow down to me now' stuff?"

"I know that scientifically, she has to, but that's not what you're asking, is it?" Carlos replied sheepishly.

"So basically, that's a nice way of saying she has no heart," Sadie confirmed as she dipped her second chicken finger into a small puddle of ketchup.

"I wouldn't count too much on Mal's good side showing up if I were you," Carlos warned as he packed up his stuff. "She's the wickedest VK there is; the only people that could even come close to her level of evil are Uma and Harriet Hook, and she was the most evil out of those three by far."

Sadie made a point to remember those names. Maybe they'd be next on the list of VKs to bring to Auradon.

"And I wouldn't count out the possibility that Ben could help her change, if I were you," Sadie shot back as Carlos was about to leave. "As I said, he does have that effect on people. Thanks again for the food."

"Not a problem, and I guess we'll see who's right," Carlos shrugged as he slid his backpack over his shoulder and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving Sadie in a situation she'd been in many times: alone with a half-eaten lunch. However, despite her loneliness, Sadie was confident in herself and her predictions. Ben would pull through and change Mal; Sadie just knew it. After all, Sadie knew that people don't have dreams about just anyone who they don't know; that would go against all the basic laws of divination theory. Now, she thought, how would that apply to her?

The two girls who she'd seen or heard in her dream the night before came to mind, as did the hand with the silver hook, and the boy in his underwater lab. She'd wagered that the silver hook and the voice could have meant Captain Hook had a son, but she ruled that possibility out; hadn't Carlos just said that Captain Hook had a terrifying daughter? Maybe someone stole her hook or something. Or she had a sibling, but she doubted too many people would want to have more than one child with a villain. That seemed like it would be too much trouble. Also, who were these random people on the Isle who were having kids with villains? That might be an interesting question to pursue, but not right now. And who was the girl screaming at a compass? Why would she do that? Why was that compass important anyway?

The bell rang, and Sadie headed for AP Auradonian Government. She could overthink her future later. Right now, she had to explain, somehow, that her boots ate her textbook. Or maybe her desk ate it. Yes, that sounded like a better explanation. She had her boots on, after all, and they didn't look like the type that would eat an anthology of Auradonian kingdoms' past rulers. Maybe, she thought, she should just say that she honestly lost it, as she normally would. No one would blame her for that; everyone lost things. Sometimes, the best solutions were the simplest ones, which gave Sadie a great idea on how to solve her Lonnie problem.


End file.
